What are “THE SINS OF DRACULA”? Find out—and help them happen!

The lord of the vampires meets the Christian scare-movie subgenre in THE SINS OF DRACULA, the latest production from the prolific Scorpio Film Releasing. Read on for the full details, and to learn how you can contribute.

Directed by Richard Griffin (MURDER UNIVERSITY, EXHUMED, THE DISCO EXORCIST) from a script by TALES OF POE’s Michael Varrati, THE SINS OF DRACULA stars Michael Thurber (pictured above) in the title role. The synopsis goes like this: “As the star of his church choir, there’s nothing that brings Billy more joy than the opportunity to sing for an audience. However, as his desire to perform grows, the stalwart youth finds that waiting until Sunday to get his fix just simply isn’t enough. Going against the advice of his pastor, Billy follows his girlfriend into the world of secular entertainment, joining the local community theater troupe. There, Billy is introduced to a whole new world, where his fellow thespians dabble in drugs, sexual perversion and table-top game play. Yet for all the newly minted depravities Billy encounters, none could prepare him for the darkest truth of them all: The theater group is actually a front for a Satanic cult intent on raising Dracula from the grave! It’s a world where Sondheim is Satan, Broadway means blasphemy and where taking the stage just might mean curtains…for your eternal soul.”

The cast also includes Jamie Dufault, Griffin film regular Sarah Nicklin, Carmine Capobianco, Steven O’Broin, Aaron Peaslee, Patrick Keeffe, Elyssa Baldassarri, Sammi Acampora, Derek Laurendeau and Tobias Wilson; Ted Marr and Stacey St. Edmunds are producing. “THE SINS OF DRACULA is a project that I’ve had in development for almost two years now,” Griffin says. “I’ve been dying to cast Michael Thurber as Dracula for some time. I consider him to be our generation’s Vincent Price and Peter Cushing all rolled into one, so I couldn’t think of anyone more suited to don the cape. I am also overjoyed to be reunited with my favorite leading lady Sarah Nicklin and Jamie Dufault, who starred in my film MURDER UNIVERSITY. This also marks the first time I’ll be working with Carmine Capobianco, who starred in everyone’s favorite cult film PSYCHOS IN LOVE!”

“In writing THE SINS OF DRACULA,” Varrati explains, “the notion was always to explore the idea of what would happen if Hammer had made a Christian scare film, and if I did my job correctly, the movie should play as a loving homage to the former and a biting satire of the latter. I’m so honored to have Richard and the team from Scorpio make this script come to life, and I appreciate that they gave me the freedom to cut loose and write the tale my way. It’s a deliciously blasphemous collaboration.”

Adds Thurber, “I have never looked forward to anything as much as this project. As my mom would say, it’s a role I was born to play!”

Shooting on SINS OF DRACULA begins next month, is Scorpio is currently fundraising the project at GoFundMe, offering perks including screen credits, autographed posters and scripts, DVDs and more. The movie’s Facebook page can be seen here.

About the author

Michael Gingold

Michael Gingold has been a member of the FANGORIA team for the past three decades. After starting as a writer for the magazine in 1988, he came aboard as associate editor in 1990 and two years later moved up to managing editor, the position he holds to this day while continuing to contribute numerous articles and reviews.